Timeline Event
Isildur claims the One Ring after the Last Combat on Orodruin
Event Type: Artifacts
Age: Akallabêth/Last Alliance
Year: 3441
Description:
An event in the War of the Last Alliance; see that entry for an overview:
The One Ring is taken from the hand of Sauron by Isildur..., and he will not permit it to be destroyed.
The Peoples of Middle-Earth, HoME Vol 12, Part 1, Ch 6, The Tale of Years of the Second Age
Isildur would not surrender it to Elrond and Círdan who stood by. They counselled him to cast it into the fire of Orodruin nigh at hand, in which it had been forged, so that it should perish, and the power of Sauron be for ever diminished, and he should remain only as a shadow of malice in the wilderness. But Isildur refused this counsel, saying: ‘This I will have as weregild for my father's death, and my brother's. Was it not I that dealt the Enemy his death-blow?' And the Ring that he held seemed to him exceedingly fair to look on; and he would not suffer it to be destroyed.
The Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age
'Alas! yes,' said Elrond. 'Isildur took it, as should not have been. It should have been cast then into Orodruin's fire nigh at hand where it was made. But few marked what Isildur did. He alone stood by his father in that last mortal contest; and by Gil-galad only Círdan stood, and I. But Isildur would not listen to our counsel.
'"This I will have as weregild for my father, and my brother," he said; and therefore whether we would or no, he took it to treasure it. But soon he was betrayed by it to his death; and so it is named in the North Isildur's Bane.'
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 2, Ch 2, The Council of Elrond
And Elrond [said]: ‘In the hour that Isildur took the Ring and would not surrender it, this doom was wrought, that Sauron should return.’
The Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age
Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 22Aug06, 10Dec07